Sushi Class (for Adults)

After raving about Marissa Baggett's awesome sushi class at the kids' school over the summer, some friends and I decided to set up a sushi class for adults.

The super cool Aimee Lewis volunteered to host us in her Annesdale-Snowden palace if I would host our collective children at my house. We set the kids up with Hi-Tone pizza and the world's coolest babysitter and took off for a fabulous evening.

Marissa put everyone at ease right away with some funny stories about how she got started making sushi in Starkville, Mississippi. Suffice it to say, there's a good looking orthodontist out there who gets full credit.


Marissa brought along a couple of appetizers to enjoy while we talked through a few things. Oh how I love gyoza. Marissa's was second only to Warren's.


She also brought Okonomiyaki (Japanese “Pizza”) with Heirloom Tomatoes. This was actually a first for me. I loved it.


I'm really not sure what's happening in this picture, but I love it. (Yes, Warren, excuse me, Mr. Oster, voluntarily wore a tie.)


We made four rolls over the course of the next two hours. (We had lots of questions and breaks!) They didn't all get photographed due to our photographer, the one and only Chip Chockley repeatedly getting rice stuck all over his hands.


For the record, we made:

Crawfish with Corn and Pickled Okra Roll
Sour Plum Rolls
Tuna Rolls Topped with Garlic Seared Scallops
Peanut Shrimp Rolls with Spicy Peanut Sauce

This is me waiting for my crawfish. The pickled okra was an awesome match. I like it better than the typical avocado. (If you look closely you can see where I wrote "weapons" on my hand. A reminder to hide the weapons before filling the house with children. And by weapons I mean light sabers, swords, etc.)


The Tuna Rolls Topped with Garlic Seared Scallops required the use of a blowtorch, always a crowd pleaser!


All of the rolls were really, really good. I think my favorite was the sour plum with basil.

For dessert, Marissa made several varieties of Pocky. How awesome is that?


We all had so much fun, we decided to meet again in a couple of months for a potluck sushi dinner where we all show off our newly acquired and/or honed skills.

The best part of the night? Coming home to find the house in one piece and 4 out of 7 kids asleep.

All photos by Chip Chockley. See the full set here.

Silly Bands

Have your kids gotten silly band fever yet? I thought mine were immune until we ran across them in San Francisco. Jiro bought a pack, wore them for a few days, then got over it. However, once school started up, it became THE thing.

Last week, they discovered that their cousin had over 200 silly bands. They spent about 45 minutes doing trade negotiations.


Clearly, Sutton did a lot of sharing. The silly bands are actually kind of cute. Each one is a different shape, but you have to take it off to see the shape. Some glow in the dark, some are multi-colored, some can even be necklaces. I like that they spark conversation among the kids and it does seem to get everyone excited.


Because the monkeys had been exceptionally good, I agreed to buy them each a pack of silly bands, which run about $2 for a 12 pack. Walgreens has them conveniently located next to the register. It only took the monkeys about twenty minutes to decide which pack they wanted. The next day at school, Satchel managed to trade the one he liked best and was devastated. He begged to go back and buy another pack.


At school, silly band wearing is allowed and their teacher even lets them trade during lunch and at recess. Mr. Jason argues that they will do it regardless so it is better to give them a time and space to do it "legally." Also there is quite a bit of bartering and figuring that goes on. Some bands are worth more than others, sometimes you make a good trade, sometimes you don't, etc. So you could argue that there is some educational benefit from the silly band trade. The school has been wary of getting the primary kids too wrapped up the craze, but as you can see from the photo I took at pick up, they are definitely curious. There could be trouble ahead.


My only concern--beyond possibly spending large amounts of money on these things--is the kids wearing too many too tightly. I've been talking to Jiro about coordinating them with his outfit or just picking certain colors/themes to wear each day. So far, it's working. He and Satchel both have their own "jewelry boxes" where they keep their bands. Every so often they take them out, examine them, compare, trade, etc. Jiro very happily showed me each of his and which ones he liked best.

I asked Satchel why he liked silly bands so much and he replied, "They're popular, cool, and fun."

What do you think? Love them or hate them?

Vikings, Snails, & Juice

Last week while jumping from blog to blog, I stumbled upon a woman named Nathalie VanBalen in Nashville who self-published a book called Garlic-Onion-Beet-Spinach-Mango-Carrot-Grapefruit Juice. I clicked through her site and learned that she did all of the illustrations herself and that the plot centered on two vikings that get their kicks by juicing. Of course there's more to the story than that--there's a "think before you eat animals" message. I couldn't resist ordering it.

The book arrived, we read it, we giggled, and then we decided it was one of our favorite books ever. We've been reading it almost every night. We might even try and make the title juice this weekend.

The illustrations are really bold and colorful. The characters, including the vikings, are actually dolls handmade by the author. Although there is one character, Ingvar, that is a finger.


Nathalie's site also includes some coloring pages. I printed them out and Jiro couldn't wait to start coloring. In this picture, you are supposed to draw food for everyone to eat. Jiro "served" grape juice and tater tots.


You can also send in picture of Ingvar (i.e. your finger) enjoying vegan meals. I especially like this one submitted by a Nashville reader:


If you are looking for a fun read, look no further.

Broke

On Monday when Satchel was still asking for Motrin, I decided to take him to get an X-ray. It's the subject of this week's column, Broken arm can be pain, but a lot of fun for a kid.

Seriously, I don't know what to do about these titles!

Anyways, back to Satchel. I took a few pictures. Here he is happy to be out of school, hanging with his mom.


He was very excited about the X-ray. Look how tiny he looks!


He was truly devastated by the news that he was going to need a cast. It may have been the first time the nurse had ever seen a kid NOT be happy about getting a cast!


Eventually, some Huey's and some YoLo (and of course his awesome mom) cheered him up.


We did have a little drama this morning when he realized that his hoodies do not fit over his cast. PLEASE let me know if you see short-sleeved hoodies anywhere that I can buy.

Scenes from the Weekend

On Friday, Jiro went to sleep over at his best buddy's house and Satchel had a friend come to ours. Satchel was invited to go with Jiro, but he opted to do his own thing, which is looking like it is going to be a common theme for awhile. I think having Jiro in his class at school is making him long for some time to himself.

Warren, Satchel, Will and I went to the yummy Tacqueria Garibaldi on Summer (more about that later). I snapped this picture to send to Will's mom. She responded that she could already imagine what they'd be like in college!


Meanwhile, Enrique and Santi's dad sent me this picture. Jiro was dining at one of my all time favorite places, the Memphis Pizza Cafe. The message said that Jiro couldn't get a word in edgewise because Enrique was so excited to have him all to himself. I think it was good for them to have a night apart, but man, I sure do miss that Jiro when he isn't around.


After dinner we went to see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which was actually really cute. Ok, maybe cute isn't the right word. It was funny, original, and highly entertaining. It was fine for Satchel and Will, who have seen their share of movies with fake violence. Not sure Jiro would have liked it due to the drawn out story line and multiple kissing scenes.

The next morning, Warren had Kendo, so Satchel, Will and I went to the Farmer's Market. When we got there, Will asked, "Can we do whatever we want?" which actually translated to, "Can we go see the dogs?" so I said yes. I was happy to do the shopping on my own. They later caught up with me and I suggested that they go get a bagel or something since I wasn't finished.

When I was done, I found them sitting on a bench, happily munching away. "Want some decaf coffee?" Satchel asked me. They thought they were hot stuff after pulling off that decaf coffee order.


After shopping, we went home for a bit and then it was off to the Shell to set up for the Rock-n-Romp. We were there about two minutes before Satchel came over sobbing. He jumped out of a tree and hurt his arm. I thought for sure we were going to spend the afternoon in the E.R., but once he calmed down and I inspected his arm, it didn't seem too major.

However, he spent the rest of the afternoon moping and showing no interest in playing with all of his best buddies who were there. Couple (triple?) that with the extreme heat and the low energy of his brother, who stayed up extra late, and well, it wasn't my favorite Rock-n-Romp ever.


BUT I will say that the show was still a pretty big success. We had almost 600 people show up and all of the bands were really amazing. Read Chip's review that includes his awesome pictures here.

Sunday was a much better day. We spent it with our buddies the Smiths and it included dim sum, swimming at the JCC, and YoLo!

GiVE 365

Next time you go to the Shell for a show (like tomorrow for Rock-n-Romp!), think of me. Ditto on the Indie Memphis Film Festival or the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival at the Center for Southern Folklore. A well dressed woman or a ballerina from Orange Mound may also make you want to pause and think of me. Hatiloo in the park? All me. Those new skate ramps at the local community center? Me.

Ok, me, Warren and 97 other Memphians.

We just awarded $34,650 dollars to eight incredible organizations including the Levitt Shell, Hatiloo Theater, Indie Memphis, Dress for Success, Splinter Youth, New Ballet Ensemble, The Center for Southern Folklore, and Su Casa Family Ministries to carry out a variety of projects that will improve the quality of life in our city and hopefully build community.

The best part? It was so easy! We pooled our money--(at least) $365 each, given $30 per month, which equals $1 per day. The Community Foundation then added $20,000 in matching funds, which brought us to the $34,650 mark.

Then the Community Foundation sent out a call for proposals addressing our chosen theme of "Fostering Community." A few weeks later we received over 100 applications!

A group of thirty of us got together, went through the proposals, and then narrowed the options down to 15. Then each of the 15 organizations came out and gave the full group a 3 minute presentation on their project. Finally, the full group ranked each of the 15 groups in order to determine who would get funding. Amazingly enough, we were able to fully fund 6 projects and partially fund 2 others.

I've applied for grants in the past on behalf of various groups, but I have never been on the grant making side. It was really cool to get together with my peers and work out a system to fund these incredibly deserving groups' projects.

GiVE 365, as we're called, just started a few months ago. The idea is to introduce people in their 20s, 30s & 40s to philanthropy. The more people who get involved, the more money we can give away to fund projects in our very own neighborhoods. If you've ever dreamed of being a philanthropist, now is your chance. Become a member of GiVE 365 and see what $30 a month (or $1 per day) can do.

The official spiel:

"By harnessing the energy, enthusiasm and resources of Memphians, we can build community awareness, leadership and responsibility and establish a pattern of charitable giving with a lasting fund that continues to grow.

Even if you can't give $365 or more now, consider making a gift of any amount."

Join us and let's get busy!

Watermelonapalooza

My friends Amy and Justin recently wrote about using an entire watermelon to make several dishes in the Memphis Flyer. After reading it, Warren waited about five minutes before he made his own version of their watermelon gazpacho.

A week later, I was inspired to make a couple watermelon treats of my own.

One of my favorite commentators on NPR was talking about her watermelon, feta, and black olive salad on Friday (Thursday?) when I was driving home from the gym. I just had to make it.


The next day, Warren made a watermelon pico de gallo from a recipe he saw in the Sacramento Bee at his brother's house. It's amazing how the watermelon blends in with the tomatoes.


I couldn't let him outdo me, so I went all out and made watermelon sorbet! All I had to do was blend up some watermelon with some lime juice, strain it, and add a little simple syrup. So easy and so good!

eaTABLE Supper Club, Take 3

Oops, it seems that somewhere in the blur that was last week, I never did a full recap of our latest eaTABLE meal. Our chef this time was Max Maloney. He drew upon recipes he learned while working at Marena's. Hence the name, imiTABLE.

Max was joined in the kitchen by Wendy Sumner-Winter, who just started her own catering business called Goodnight Gracie, and Gary Bridgman, former waiter extraordinaire.

Our hosts were the affable Kathy and Kelly Fish. Their home was fabulous. I'm surprised that they actually got us to leave!

For whatever reason, I was the only one taking pictures. I'm a little embarrassed by how bad they are, but it's all we've got!


The amuse bouche was a bite of watermelon with some aged balsamic vinegar. With the red onion it was a nice, zingy way to begin the meal. My bouche was definitely amused.


Here's a peek at some of the fun people at my table.


And a couple more...


The mezze platter was absolutely fantastic. Never has cauliflower tasted so awesome. And one person at my table, who shall remain nameless, claimed it was the first (and best) beet she's ever had!


Gary made sure we never had to stare at a dirty plate and that our wine glasses were always full.


The gazpacho was perfectly refreshing and delightful in every way.


The palate cleansing fig sorbet with aged balsamic was my favorite course of the night.


A not just because it came with a "shot" of amaro!


Max gave us a little break to enjoy the patio, which we all appreciated.


Ben Smith helped Max source some sustainable tuna for the main course.


Once the sun set, my pictures really started to tank. This photo does no justice to the beauty of and pleasure derived from the tuna with charmoula sauce. This was our first appearance of seafood at an eaTABLE. Max made a special tofu with charmoula for our strict vegetarian friends.


For dessert we had a fine and fluffy meringue, some spiced pecans, and some lovely cheese. A perfect ending to a perfect meal!


Ok, maybe the bottle of champagne was the perfect ending!


Thanks to everyone who made the evening so special.

Sheltered

This week's column, Return to school is different this year, probably isn't news to my faithful blog readers and Facebook friends. However, had I filed my story a few days later, I might have written about my shocking realization that my children are maybe a bit too sheltered.

This week they've been going to camp at the Y. Other than their week of Junkyard Camp, they've never been to a camp outside of their school. They fretted about it all last week and we had plenty of drama over the fear of the unknown. Luckily by Monday, they were ready for a new adventure. And I am happy to report that they have been having a great time with their new friends in their new environment. It's been really good for them and has convinced me to sign them up for more camps next summer.


Thinking back on my own experiences at their age, I remembered that I met one of my very best friends when I was six years old at Y camp. (Hi Hope!) The fact that we later ended up on the same soccer team, and eventually the same school, also helped. So I started thinking about after school activities. The monkeys love doing Taekwondo at school with the instructors from Midtown Taekwondo and Satchel mentioned in the past that he wanted to take classes at the studio. Now that Warren's schedule is flexible and Jiro is done with speech therapy, they could actually start doing afterschool activities outside their school.

I took them last night for a trial class to see how they would like it. Again they worried about not knowing anybody and people watching them. (Jiro thought he was going to be performing on a stage!) After seeing how large the class was, they were very undecided when it was over. "We don't know anybody," Satchel moaned. I reminded them of their fears about Y camp and how they easily made friends and told them to sleep on it. (Jiro's main beef was that he'd have to earn a green belt--the level when you can start fighting--rather than just purchasing one.)

This morning they were both leaning towards going to the studio, much to my delight.

My new favorite color

On Sunday I made blueberry gelato. It's the same color as my favorite cashmere sweater. Luckily it tastes a lot better.


I used this recipe, except I had to substitute a lemon for a lime.

The Price is Right

For the past four years, Warren and I have been among the first people through the doors of the David Lusk Gallery for his annual Price is Right show. The beauty of the Price is Right show is that everything is under $1000.


Take into consideration that David Lusk represents some of the most talented artists the city (and country). They all participate in this show. It is a great opportunity to get great art at a great price.

Also, over the years we've learned that what's hanging on the walls is just a sampling of what David has to offer. There are usually several other pieces by every artist hiding in secret rooms, in drawers, and sometimes upstairs. I've taken to doing a preliminary sweep of the main gallery, grabbing a drink, and then going on the hunt for hidden treasures. That's how Warren and I found our latest painting.


We weren't the only ones scoring. I was super jealous of Aimee's Greely Myatt acquisition!


And Mary further established herself as Dwayne Butcher's #1 fan by purchasing nine of his pieces.


The show continues through the 28th, so check it out! Tell David I sent you.

Video Post

So we got back in town late on a Sunday night and I hit the ground running on Monday morning. A week ago Monday. Today is the first day that I've really just lounged around and done nothing. (And by nothing I mean go to the Farmer's Market, make lunch, do laundry, finish up some writing assignments, and make the base for some bluberry gelato!)

I think I can safely blame Facebook for my lack of blogging over the last week. Normally I post snippets there to remind me of what to go into detail about here, but I just never had the time. So this is a bit of a catch up post. Bear with me.

Last Friday we went to the Alley-Browns for a Cocktail Hour, the likes of which we haven't experienced in weeks, possibly months. What was once a weekly ritual has become a semi-monthly treat. The highlight of the evening was of course seeing everyone in person. (Well almost everyone. The rep for Team Brown was off eating corn.) The evening just happened to coincide with the first end of business week for Goodnight Gracie, the Winters' new food specialty food company. We got to munch on all of the leftovers! I especially loved the salsas that they brought. Between munching we did a lot of drinking. Chip made us all his favorite mojitos. I can vouch for its "best evah"--ness. I failed to take pictures of the yummy food and drinks, but I did get this fun video of Chip attempting to teach Richard how to juggle.



On Saturday, I got to take Warren shopping for school clothes and fulfill my fantasy of dressing him "preppy." Of course he can only be so preppy with his inherent California style, but it was still fun.


Combined with one of his "skinny ties" that we transported home from California, he looked super cute on Monday morning. Of course, I am calling him Mr. Oster now so he'll be used to it when the kindergartners do it.


After shopping, we headed over to Hutchison to see the finale of the camper bands from the Delta Girls' Rock Camp. I had never been in Hutchison before, so that was fun! The showcase was really awesome and I was blown away by the Hot Pink Paperclip's founders' new band, the Royal Foolz. Nykkoa Morris knows how to rock! I love this song. I think it should be the official Memphis Theme Song.


After the showcase, the monkeys went to a sleepover and Warren and I finally got some time alone. Naturally we went to go see Inception. Can't say we totally figured it out, but we had fun trying.

Sunday was the second semi-annual CPOP Jamboree at the Hi-Tone. I was really excited to raise money for the park, eat some awesome Hi-Tone pizza, have a few Ghost River beers, hang out with friends, and hear some good music. Despite the heat--both inside and out--we had a great turnout and a great time.

I finally got to see Cotton and Coal, fronted by my good buddy and Rock-n-Romp cohort, Caleb Sweazy.


We also had performances by the Bluff City Backsliders and the Memphis Dawls. (You can see their videos if you follow the YouTube link in the above video.)

I also took some pictures.



So yeah, busy weekend followed by a busy week.